Heat by Heat Results - October 1965

Halifax took advantage of a huge slice of luck to register a hard-fought victory on the road at Swindon.  Tommy Roper failed to arrive, so Bob Jameson was called into the side, but on a rain-sodden track, the Dukes held the edge for most of the match.  Swindon had their own slice of fortune in heat 1 when Sampson fell at the back whilst Boothroyd was leading - in the re-run, Briggs made no mistake to win.  But successive 5-1s for Halifax put them into the lead they would not relinquish until heat 12, when Ashby completed his maximum.  In the decider, Briggs lead Younghusband and Gavros until his machine spluttered to a halt on lap 2, leaving the Dukes' pair to take the heat win and secure the victory.

24 hours on from their win at Swindon, the Dukes were unable to repeat the feat, slipping to defeat at Wimbledon.  The match was in the balance after 5 races, but once Hedge and Dugard took a 5-1 over Boothroyd and Kingston in the 6th race, the home side pulled away.  Only Boocock and Younghusband posed much of a threat to the Dons, and when Boocock's engine stopped in the final race, it summed up the night, as Wimbledon moved 12 points ahead for the first time.  Boocock had the satisfaction of preventing Trevor Hedge completing his maximum, but was unable to do the same to Nygren who was unbeaten throughout.

The Dukes slipped to another defeat on the road, this time on the slick surface at Brandon.  Only Dave Younghusband prevented the score-line getting out of hand, as none of his team-mates bar Elliott were able to win a race.  Halifax had no answer to the Bees top three of Nigel Boocock, Lightfoot and Mountford, and with Col Cotterill also winning 2 races, the Dukes were left chasing scraps.  

At the third time of asking, Halifax finally fulfilled their fixture at Glasgow - and ended the season with another fine away win.  The hosts were comfortable leaders when the previous attempt was halted due to rain 3 weeks earlier, but things were different this time as the Dukes moved ahead in heat 2 and never looked back.  Apart from Dennis Gavros, all the Dukes were in the points, and even the efforts of Charlie Monk and Bluey Scott could not keep the Tigers in the contest.  It was a satisfying end to the season for the Dukes as they finished 5th in the inaugural British League - with the promise of more to come in 1966!